For those still running old Standard for the next three weeks, Jamie talks about the final version of Joshie Green. For those who care about online formats, Jamie discusses a newfound love for Vanguard, including a tournament report. And for those who simply love to read about Jamie and the beautiful Mare, there’s an important link at the bottom of the article where you can send the couple best wishes during this extremely trying time. Get well soon, Mare.
The first real decision in any Magic game, after you chose whether to play or draw, is whether or not you should take a mulligan. Over the years there have been quite a few articles on the internet about taking mulligans, yet I still believe it deserves much more attention. I think that most Magic players have the habit of keeping bad or dangerous hands while they should be mulliganning instead. Every now and then someone writes, “This hand was pretty bad, but it contained lands and spells so I had to keep” or “This is a hand that you cannot mulligan, but you won’t win the game with it either”. These are very bad statements; it indicates that players are way too afraid to take a mulligan. It’s time to stop being afraid and become a better player.
All this week, gifted Swede Thomas Rosholm tackles fundamental skills you all want and need but the vast majority of you seem to lack. Strap yourselves in, lads… this should be a fun ride.
What is The Monster? For long-time followers of Ben’s Corner, this question has haunted their dreams for months. Is it a dragon? Is it a vampire? Nay, it is a million toothed cardboard beast which has inflicted ulcers upon all who gaze upon its hideous fury! Confused? Details are inside!
Also in Ben’s Corner: Feedback time! What do you want to see in future installments of Ben’s Corner? Now’s your time to have your voice heard!
Generally I build decks to attack the extremes of the metagame. I hate building in a vaccum and try never to have brand! new! creative ideas for fear of being attached to them, or, even worse, lying to myself about how innovative and successful my brand! new! ideas are like some deck designers. Instead, I like to build, template, and tune decks that can overcome the decks that I plan to play against in whatever tournament is coming up, anticipating their best draws and key threats, playing with the right trumps to win a war over relevance and draw quality. Today we take a break from the ongoing set review, and instead you get a Mono-Red deck that tries to adhere to these principles.
Today’s edition of this amazing series only requires three measly letters to make certain that every member of the Magic community will immediately sit up and take notice.
P.
T.
R.
Teddy Card Game’s challenge to many writers on this here fine website was to participate in the Championship Deck Challenge, some of which are easy hurdles (“Talk about Black/Green decks for Standard!”) and others of which are something more difficult. Or at least less popular, as it would seem. My mission, as I have chosen it for myself, is to take a hard look at some of the unloved archetypes that are inevitably going to have some kind of footprint on the format, be they the stomping boot of progress or the mangled road-kill of first-iteration stinkers. This week, I’ll be talking about Mono-Green, or “the color that R&D forgot.
Not so long back, I wrote a series of articles called “Sealed Revealed.” The aim then, as it is now, was to take some “Sealed,” and, well… “Reveal” it. At the time of writing, I am sat by the pool in a Floridian villa, enjoying a two-week vacation. It is the day after the Ravnica Prerelease. Yesterday, I entered a 100+ player “Mega Flight,” as my first (and so far only) foray onto the playing fields of the Shiny New Set. I have my prerelease card pool on the table by the laptop, and I’m up for a little deck-building discussion.
Years ago, you could get a free game win by catching your opponent on a rules error. That has changed. Today, both players are responsible for ensuring that mandatory actions take place, etc., and both players can get cautions and/or warnings if the game state gets screwed up. Judges are clamping down on “rules cheese.”
StarCityGames.com is proud to have one of the hottest deckbuilders around and best Magic writers in history give you the lowdown on every card in Ravnica. Flores’s task today is to discover whether there are any goodies in Red besides Char and Hunted Dragon, and just how far you will have to sink in order to find playable one and two-drops for your aggro decks.
First of all, I want to stress that Wizards wants people to play with foils. They like seeing foils. They do not want judges to discourage foils. In fact, the Wizards folks make that point fairly emphatically. You can play with foils. You just have to be careful when you do it so you don’t wind up with penalties for having a marked deck.
Welcome to StarCityGames.com’s 2005 Championship Deck Challenge, where each week some of the best writers we have square off against each other in a battle to deliver the best deck for States. Each deck must adhere to the theme for the week, and on Friday Supreme Arbiter Flores will choose a victor. This week’s theme: Build a Mono-Colored Monstrosity. Mark Young’s swipe at this theme involves one of the more common things you’ll see at States this year – attacking for two.
StarCityGames.com is proud to have one of the hottest deckbuilders around and best Magic writers in history give you the lowdown on every card in Ravnica. Today michaelj tackles the awesome power of Black, where some very saucy dishes are just waiting to be broken.
Welcome to StarCityGames.com’s 2005 Championship Deck Challenge, where each some of the best writers we have (including Chad Ellis, who returns from hiatus today) square off against each other in a battle to deliver the best deck for States. Each deck must adhere to the theme for the week, and on Friday Supreme Arbiter Flores will choose a victor. This week’s theme: Build a Mono-Colored Monstrosity.
While most of the Magical world was off enjoying their Ravnica prerelease experience, Nick Eisel was at home battling Ken Krouner and others for digital glory.
